Persistence
by tastes-like-ciel
Summary: “The most essential factor is persistence - the determination never to allow your energy or enthusiasm to be dampened by the discouragement that must inevitably come.” - James Whitcomb Riley // He persisted and pursued and pursued and persisted.


Title: Persistence

Genre: General/Romance

Rating: PG-13+

Warnings: AU. SuzaLulu. Self-challenge. A few curse words are used.

Summary: "The most essential factor is persistence - the determination never to allow your energy or enthusiasm to be dampened by the discouragement that must inevitably come." - James Whitcomb Riley // He persisted and pursued and pursued and persisted.

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass.

Serena: I decided to challenge myself to a series of self-challenge fics. To complete this challenge, I must create a one-shot for each of the following words: Persistence, Endurance, Sticky, Nightmare, Insanity, and Rose (not necessarily in that order). The only conditions are that all of the one-shots _must_ by SuzaLulu-related and at least one of them _must _have a separate pairing using Zero in some way (Zero does not necessarily have to be Suzaku or Lelouch. It can be someone else and their identity can remain a secret.) So…yeah. XD I choose "Persistence" as my first theme.

-X-X-X-X-

Lelouch Lamperouge was not one for being courted--as most of his pursuers only had one objective in there minds and it certainly had nothing to do with love despite what some called it. Lust did not equal love in his eyes and in any case, he had no desire to participate in such an act.

Honestly, he'd rather read.

Besides, brains trumped outer beauty in his mind. Intelligence was what he liked, what he adored. Perhaps, if he could find someone with the right amount of intellect, he could be persuaded to indulge himself in such acts. As things were, he had found no such being.

Lelouch smiled distantly as he laughed to himself quietly.

'_Even if I found that someone, why would they spare me any second thought?_' he mused, shaking his head slightly.

Other than a potential sex partner, what possible reason would someone have to be his special someone?

Lelouch may have been naïve when it came to the subject of love, but he was no fool. He saw the looks other people sent him, filled with such terrible lust. All the girls--and occasionally a few guys--that would approach him and ask him out were all the same.

They loved his delicate appearance, his outer beauty.

That's why he turned them all down and tried to keep himself distant from others. However, there was one person who had captured his attention lately.

But that was only because the idiot wouldn't take a hint and leave him be.

The person in question was a boy named Suzaku Kururugi.

There wasn't anything special about him--besides an abnormally fine-tuned athletic skill. His hair was of a dark mahogany color and his eyes were a deep green--not a drop of lust to be found. He was pleasant enough to be around, but Lelouch didn't think there was much going on in that head of his.

Never mind that he had somewhat befriended the boy despite this setback.

Lelouch sighed as he slipped a thick book back into its proper place along the self and let his hand idle against its spine.

Quite a number of people had been surprised by his friendship with Suzaku--rather, they were in awe of the brunet's ability to make Lelouch open up.

When he was a young child, his parents and younger sister were murdered. His family had been having a picnic at the time and everything had seemed so…perfect…at the time.

But happiness and perfection are simply illusions, aren't they?

Ever since that day, he lived with his uncle, a rather eccentric man named Lloyd. Lelouch didn't mind living with his uncle. Lloyd wasn't the type to pry into his personal life and Lloyd never tried to pressure him into doing something he clearly did not want to do. Hell, whenever Lloyd was told of Lelouch's class skipping, the eccentric man would teach his nephew ways to not get caught.

Lelouch was…content with his life. He wasn't happy with it, but he wasn't upset with it either. He was just…content. That was all. He wasn't fond of change anyway.

So when this Suzaku Kururugi walked into his life, of course he didn't like it. He wanted to be left alone and he didn't care to have any friends.

But Suzaku persisted.

The boy continued to strike up conversations with him and follow him nearly wherever he went.

He persisted and pursued and pursued and persisted.

Lelouch couldn't even remember when he had actually started talking back or even when he had agreed to hang out with the other male.

'_I suppose Suzaku just has that kind of charm about him._' Lelouch mused. '_For an idiot…I suppose he has his moments._'

Lelouch let his hand fall from the book's spine and his fingertips brushed against the many other spines of neighboring books before they settled against a thick red spine. His fingers traced the dark lettering before they flew to the top edge and deftly pulled the object loose.

Lelouch loved reading and his uncle's library was one of his favorite places to be. It was cool and quiet, a perfect solitary place.

But perfection was an illusion after all.

Tap. Tap.

Lelouch heard the tap tapping of glass and he turned away from the large bookshelf, his gaze sweeping across the room.

Tap.

Lelouch caught a tiny swift movement out of the corner of his eye and his head turned towards the large window that was partially covered by a thick curtain.

Tap.

Lelouch gently set the book he had chosen down onto a small table before he made his over to the window.

Tap.

His fingers wrapped around the edge of the curtain and he pushed it to the side to gaze out of the window.

He blinked as a tiny object collided with the glass.

Was someone throwing things at the window?

"Hey!!"

Lelouch looked down and blinked in surprise at the figure waving at him.

'_Suzaku?_'

Lelouch threw the curtain around his back and slipped his fingers down to pull the window up. The window wasn't that hard to lift, but Lelouch had never been one for physical activity so it did take him a bit longer than it would another person.

"What are you doing out here?" Lelouch asked the boy below him as he leaned out of the window.

Suzaku smiled up at him.

"Why, hello to you too, Juliet." he greeted.

Lelouch frowned and rolled his eyes at the other male.

"If you've come here just to tease me--"

"Of course not, Lu. I just wanted to see you." Suzaku said, that smile of his remaining in place.

Lu.

It was a ridiculous nickname given to him by the emerald-eyed idiot below him. Lelouch didn't really care for it…but he had become accustomed to being called by that name.

And it was Suzaku who said it.

Lelouch wasn't sure why, but he only tolerated the nickname whenever Suzaku said it.

"You see me at school." Lelouch stated, an eyebrow raised.

Suzaku rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"I know, but I wanted to see you _now_…so…can I come up?"

"The door is around front." Lelouch stated, making a shooing motion with his hands. "Get moving."

Suzaku pouted.

"But Juliet," Suzaku whined. "your Romeo wants to climb up to you."

A small blush spread across Lelouch's cheeks.

"U-Use the front door, you idiot!" he stuttered, causing Suzaku's smile to widen.

"Can I serenade you first?"

Lelouch's blush darkened.

"N-No!! Just go!!"

Lelouch could hear the other's laughter even as he shut the window.

'_Damn Suzaku and his teasing!!_' he fumed, stalking away from the window to sit in a comfy chair.

"That idiot." he muttered, a small smile crossing his lips as he awaited said idiot's arrival.

Lelouch Lamperouge was not one for being courted--as happiness and love were simply illusions. They were not real to him.

Butterflies fluttered about in Lelouch's stomach as his smile widened.

Suzaku's intelligence was hardly on par with his own; therefore, his interest in the boy shouldn't even exist.

One delicate hand came to rest against his chest.

Lelouch was content with his life. He was not happy with it nor was he upset with it.

A happy sighed passed by Lelouch's lips.

Perfection was an illusion.

But…

Lelouch heard the library's door creak open and he quickly composed himself before Suzaku ever saw him.

Suzaku smiled when his eyes found Lelouch's.

"There's my Juliet." he teased, beginning to make his way over to the taller male.

Lelouch scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"Romeo should not keep Juliet waiting." Lelouch stated. "And Romeo should also not throw rocks at her window."

But…

Lelouch supposed that he could make an exception just this once.

Suzaku smiled apologetically.

"Sorry, Lu." he said.

His apologetic look morphed into a mischievous one as he neared Lelouch and before Lelouch could even protest, the brunet swept him up into his arms and sat down in his seat.

"S-Suzaku!!" he complained, squirming in Suzaku's strong hold.

Suzaku chuckled.

"You should have let me serenade you." he stated before burying his head into the crook of Lelouch's neck. "Now, I'll just have to settle for snuggling you until you give in to my charms."

"Suzaku!!" Lelouch whined, giggling slightly as Suzaku nuzzled his neck. "S-Stop it!! That tickles!! Let me go!!"

After all, this was as close to happiness, to love, as he had ever gotten and he didn't want to lose it.

It was its own level of perfection, after all.

-X-X-X-X-

Serena: Did any of that even make any sense? It did to me, but it came from my mind so….meh. I have too many ideas floating around in my head and this self-challenge of mine is a good way to purge them. :3 Please leave me a review if you can spare the time. Even if it's just to say "That was sweet." or "Good luck with your challenge. This one-shot was okay. Could have been better.", then that's fine. :3 I love reviews and even the tiniest one makes me happy. So please consider reviewing. ^^


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